Lesson video

I'm Miss Howell.

Welcome to today's English lesson.

All you'll need is a pen and a piece of paper, so take a moment to clear yourself of any instructions and make sure that you have everything you need at hand for today's learning.

Our lesson today is going to focus on The Tell-Tale Heart and in particular building our skills of analysing language.

Please get down your title for today, Analysing Language in The Tell-Tale Heart, pausing the video here to complete that now.

Please now write down our key words to the lesson, which is psychopath and the definition.

Pause the video here to complete that now.

So whilst analysing language, before we can successfully do this in any text, you need to first ensure you have understood what you have read.

We will therefore carefully read the next extract from The Tell-Tale Heart.

We are about to read our extracts for today's lesson.

The extracts has been split into four sections, first, next, then, and finally.

On each slide, there are prompt questions that are provided to help you think about what is happening.

I would like you to answer each of those questions, recording your responses on lined paper.

I'd like you to ask the question in a full sentence, and I would also like you to ensure you support that answer with quotation from the extract.

After going through the reading, you have time to pause the video to enable you to answer the question.

You will also need a different coloured pen or pencil to self-assess and check your progress, when we review the answers.

"And every morning when the day broke, I went boldly into the chamber and spoke courageously to him, calling him by name in a hearty tone and inquiring how he had passed the night.

So you see, he would have been a very profound old man, indeed, to suspect that every night, just at 12, I looked in upon him while he slept.

Upon the eighth night I was more than usually cautious in opening the door.

A watch's minute hand moves more quickly than did mine.

Never before that night had I felt the extent of my own powers, of my sagacity.

I could scarcely contain my feelings of triumph." Pause here to answer the questions.

"To think that there I was opening the door little by little and he not even to dream of my secret deeds or thoughts.

I barely chuckled at the idea of perhaps he heard me or he moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled.

Now you may think that drew back, but no, his room was as black as pitch with the thick darkness for the shutters were close fastened, through fear of robbers, and so I knew that he could not see the opening of the door, and I kept pushing it on steadily, steadily." Pause here to answer questions.

"I had my head in and was about to open the Lantern, When my thumb slipped upon the tin fastening, and the old man sprang up in the bed, crying out, 'who's there?' I kept quite still and said nothing.

For a whole hour I did not move a muscle, and in the meantime, I did not hear him lie down.

He was still sitting up in the bed listening, just as I have done, night after night, hearkening to the death watches in the wall.

Presently I heard a slight groan and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror.

It was not a groan of pain or a grief, oh, no! It was the low stifled sound that arises from the bottom of the soul when overcharged with awe." Pause here to answer the question.

"I knew the sound well.

Many a nights just at midnight, when all the works left, it has welled up from my own bosom, deepening whether it's dreadful echo, the terrors that distracted me.

I say I knew it well.

I knew what the old man felt, and pitied him, although I chuckled at heart.

I knew that he had been lying awake ever since the first light noise, when he had turned in the bed.

His fears had been ever since growing upon him.

He had been trying to fancy them causeless, but could not." Pause here to answer the question and see if he can answer the challenge question as well.

Now, we will review your answers.

Please now switch to your different coloured pen or your pencil to allow yourself to edit-refine your responses with the answers I go through them.

Remember please pause video at the moment when you need to, to allow yourself to take down any feedback.

So the answer to number one, the narrator seems to believe the old man does not suspect that he has been sneaking his head into his room each night because he "Spoke courageously to him" and in such a "Hearty tone," he believes this puts him beyond reproach.

And answers number two, on the eighth night, the old man "Moved on the bed suddenly, as if startled." So, instead of staying at the door, the narrator, assured by the "Darkness" of the room, starts to open the door to the old man's room.

Please note in particular how I'm supporting my responses with quotations.

So check this against your own work, and if you haven't managed to support yours, then this is something you could be noting down in the feedback.

In answer to number three.

The narrator believes the old man to be petrified as he hears him groan and assumes this to be a "Groan of mortal terror." In answers number four.

The narrator empathises with the fear that old man feels.

The narrator "Knew the sound well" referring to the sound of mortal terror.

So he pities him as he understands what it is like to feel so afraid.

Then that challenge question, well done if you've attempted this and you've managed to get this right.

So the narrator not only pities is the old man, but also find it amusing as he "Chuckled at heart" at the terror he is causing him to feel.

This is rather sadistic, which means taking pleasure from inflicting suffering on others, and sadistic personality disorder was once considered to be a mental illness.

So now we understand what is happening in this extract we can start to analysing language.

So we're just going to recap the steps that we want to use when we're analysing language, and if you want to you can pause the video to take down these steps, because that might help you when it comes to answering the question later on in the lesson.

So the first step is always to understand the texts that you're analysing, which we've just done by answering those prompt questions.

Then you need to always make sure you read the question very carefully and underline the key focus.

Aspect three, is to select the best quotation that answers the question.

Step four is to identify techniques used by the writer.

Remembering this could be linguistic techniques, such as similes, metaphors, personification, hyperbole, et cetera.

Or it could be a particular word choice the writer has used.

So an adjective, a verb, a noun, et cetera.

Aspect five, is to explain what the impact of these choices by the writer are and how this leads to the question you're being asked.

And if you want to challenge yourself, I want you to see if you can identify multiple techniques within one quotation.

We are now going to work through each of those steps to successfully analyse language.

Remember we've already achieved step one.

So the second step is to write down your question and highlight the focus.

Pause here to complete that now.

Hopefully we've all recognise that the key focus of the question is we're looking specifically at the narrator's mental state.

And what language, how use is in order to allow us as a reader, greater insight into that.

So that brings us on to step three.

So you're going to need to re-read this section of text that you're going to answer the question on, and then you need to select your quotations that answer the question.

So try and make sure it's the absolute best quotation or quotations that you could use.

Pause the video here to complete that now.

Now for step four.

So this is the step where you are identifying the techniques, using accurate subject terminology in the quotation that you have selected.

Pause the video here to complete that now.

Now finally for step five, you need to explain what the impact of these choices by the writer are, what does it tell you? What can you infer about the narrator's mental state based on these particular choices.

Remember if you are doing the challenge, then you need to complete this for each technique you have identified.

Pause the video here to complete that now.

Now we will review your answers.

By taking a different coloured pen, I would like you to add or refine your own response with the answers as I go through them.

You may have selected a different quotations to the one that I'm looking at, and that's absolutely fine, but I would definitely get down this feedback as you might choose to use this, when it comes to writing up your response later or in the lesson.

So the key quotations I've looked at are "Deepening, with its dreadful echo," and "Chuckled." So if needs to pause the video to allow yourself to get those down, please do so now.

Then within that first quotation, the technique that I'm going to look at is alliteration, and I'm going to zoom in on the adjective dreadful.

And also going to look at the verb chuckled.

So when we're looking at step five, in order to be really successful, when we're explaining the effects of techniques, it needs to be detailed and carefully thought through.

You need to consider the impact, the connotation of the particular choices the writer has used.

So here the alliteration emphasises the heightened sensory state, the narrator is in, with an acute sense of hearing, which suggests that he's hallucinating as he's hearing something that does not exist outside his own mind.

And then am zoomed in and taking that analysis that step further by also looking at that adjective dreadful, which reinforces that what he hallucinates terrifies him as such, the narrator may be experiencing psychosis as he is revealing he believes things which are not real, which is the sign of madness.

Remember to pause the videos to allow yourself get down any of this feedback, and it will be really useful for you, when you come to writing up your response.

Then building on that analysis even further, the verb chuckled, betrays his sadistic and cruel nature.

It applies that he's obscene happy with himself form inflicting such terror upon the old man.

This leads the reader to feel that the narrator perhaps have psychopathic tendencies as his lack of remorse points to this.

Because it's now time to write your response into a complete paragraph.

There are sentence starters provided for you over the next two slides, which you can use to support your write up, should you need to.

You can also use the feedback from the quotations that I have analysed in order to support you, or you can use the independent work that you did.

The best sense started to support you should you need them can be found on this slide and this slide.

Pause the video here to complete your task.

Now, we will review your answers.

So looking at a model paragraph, which I'm going to take you through.

I'd like you to compare this to your own independent response.

In particular, I would like you to think about whether you have explained the effect of your techniques as clearly and in as much detail as I have, and then edit refine your work accordingly with the model.

The narrator seems to be exhibiting signs that he is that he's mentally ill.

He recalls him sound in the middle of the night, "Deepening with its dreadful echo." The alliteration emphasises, the heightened sensory state the narrator is in, with an acute sense of hearing, which suggests that he is hallucinating as he's hearing something that does not exist outside of his own mind.

Also the adjective "Dreadful" reinforces that what he hallucinates terrifies him.

As such, the narrator maybe experiencing psychosis as he is revealing that he believes things which are not real, a sign of madness.

Furthermore, the verb "Chuckled" betrays his sadistic and nature.

It implies that he is obscenely happy with himself for inflicting such terror upon the old man.

This leads the reader to feel that narrator perhaps has psychopathic tendencies as his lack of remorse point to this.

So what I'd like to really consider as you're reflecting on your own work compared with the model that I've just taken you through, is whether you've really thought carefully about the impacted techniques and consider whether you've explored multiple techniques devices used, just like the model.

Just pause the video should you need to, in order to allow yourself to refine or edit your work, once you've done that, that would bring us to the end of the lesson.

Thank you for your focus, and I hope you have enjoyed our learning today.